Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis: A Debate on Reason and by Farouk Mitha

Al-Ghazali is arguably probably the most influential thinkers within the background of Islam, and his writings have acquired larger scholarly consciousness within the West than these of the other Muslim pupil. This learn explores a major size of his suggestion that has now not but been absolutely tested, specifically, his polemical engagement with the Ismailis of the Fatimid and early Alamut periods.Published in organization with The Institute of Ismaili reports.

Titus Burckhardt was once Swiss and an eminent member of the traditionalist institution. he's might be most sensible identified to the English-speaking public because the writer of the subsequent books: Sacred paintings in East and West; Siena, urban of the Virgin; Moorish tradition in Spain; and Alchemy: technological know-how of the Cosmos, technology of the Soul.

Among 1300 and 1500 C. E. a brand new kind of Sufi Islam took carry between significant Islamic peoples, becoming a member of members via frequent networks akin to contemporary popular paths and orders. realizing modern Sufism calls for a worldly research of those adolescence. relocating past a instantly account of leaders and events, Shahzad Bashir weaves a wealthy background round the depiction of physically activities via Sufi masters and disciples, basically in Sufi literature and Persian miniature work of the interval.

What precisely is the Qur'an? How does this remarkable rfile -- actually ""recitation"" -- relate to the existence and instances of the Prophet Muhammad? And why did the faith of the Prophet, which got here to be known as ""Islam"" (or submission to God's will), on the heart of which lies the Qur'an, supply delivery to a legacy so richly diversified in religion, legislations and civilization?

Additional info for Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis: A Debate on Reason and Authority in Medieval Islam

Example text

In addition to studying the full range of the so-called ‘religious sciences’ (Qur¢an, hadith and the commentaries on both) with emphasis on fiqh, alGhazålí was also exposed to Ash™arí kalåm. 21 By 484/1091 he had been appointed to teach Shåfi™í law at the Niúåmiyya in Baghdad where, as we now know, he remained for only four years until 488/1095. The drama, if you will, of these four years in Baghdad sits at the centre of our enquiry. The K. al-Mustaúhirí was written almost at the end of this period, yet it was preceded by a significant amount of activity, all of which has a bearing on our analysis of this text.

Al-Ghazålí’s Muqaddima: A Justification The K. al-Mustaúhirí begins with a customary muqaddima (preamble) which consists of an introductory khu†ba (exordium): an explanation of the circumstances which led him to write the present work; a brief statement on the objectives of the text and a list of the titles of all ten chapters in the text (an equivalent, perhaps, to a table of contents). The deployment of a preamble such as this had become an almost standard feature of texts written in medieval Islam.

The silence in the K. al-Mustaúhirí should thus be read as a posture that needs to be discerned between the lines, for only then can the implications of al-Ghazålí’s theory of an Islamic government in this work be adequately understood. Regardless of the theoretical model that was elaborated, it is important to keep in mind that al-Ghazålí’s theory was not a creatio ex nihilo. It was formulated within the framework and conventions of the siyåsa shar ™iyya tradition. By the time of al-Ghazålí, this tradition had become structured around a working relationship between the caliph, the Turkic sultans and the ™ulamå¢.